A blog for the United States branch of the global Centre for Fortean Zoology

At the beginning of the 21st Century monsters still roam the remote, and sometimes not so remote, corners of our planet. It is our job to search for them. The Centre for Fortean Zoology [CFZ] is - we believe - the largest professional, scientific and full-time organisation in the world dedicated to cryptozoology - the study of unknown animals. Since 1992 the CFZ has carried out an unparalleled programme of research and investigation all over the world. Since 2009 we have been running the increasingly popular CFZ Blog Network, and although there has been an American branch of the CFZ for over ten years now, it is only now that it has a dedicated blog.

Wednesday, 31 December 2014

I don't know what to make of climate change. Today they have been making Snowmen in Malta, which is only two spits away from the African coasts. How does Maltese Freezing tie in with Global warming? I think they should rename it Weather Chaos.

The Maine Coon Cat is a well-known breed of cat, but a singular legend attaches to it. It is said to be descended from the hybrid of a cat and a raccoon. Experts tell us there is no possibility that this is true. The likelihood of a cat and a raccoon even wanting to mate is remote.

This is one of America's local monsters, said to disport itself in Grunch Road, New Orleans. Just what it is is anybody's guess, but it sounds better avoided, if you happen to meet it when strolling about New Orleans.now read on.....

1870: The Nunda Times reports "a strange beast
like a kangaroo" seen "hovering" around Moscow, New York,
"promiscuously" attacking stray dogs. The editor writes, "We
hope he will kill off most of the dogs before the hunters bag him." In
fact, they never do.

1947: Greek café proprietor Nick Danilatos suffers a broken
arm aboard a train en route from Redfern to Newtown, New South Wales, when he's
attacked by something "white, transparent, and misty like steam,"
reaching through an open window to strike him. He sues he Commissioner of
Railways for negligence and wins £819, at a trial where testimony suggests his
assailant may have been supernatural.

1974: A female motorist runs over "a metallic
spider" near the Turnpike Bridge in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania. She describes
the think as 12 inches tall, with eight jointed legs and a body that glowed in
the beams from her headlights. Her husband returns to the site soon afterward
but finds nothing.

1974: Multiple witnesses in Lumberton, North Carolina,
report seeing bright lights in the sky, at the same time a family of four calls
police to describe a humanoid figure dressed in a "silver and black suit
with some sort of helmet" prowling around their home in Forest Acres.
Deputies search in vain.

1979: Four-year-old Antonita Tamayo vanishes from her home
in Arroyo Sujayar, Albacete, Spain, somehow eluding search teams with tracking
dogs for three days. On the fourth, officers find her in a wooded area,
apparently unfazed by cold or exposure. She tells rescuers that a tall woman
dressed in white, carrying a torch, kept her warm and fed her during her
absence.

Sunday, 28 December 2014

Legends about Giants are frequently invoked to help bolster evidence for the existence of Bigfoot and other large unknown anthropoids. However, what investigators should do is to differentiate between different kinds of Giants. Some may reflect traditions of genuine Bigfoot-like creatures, but some or less likely to.The categories into which I would divide Giants are as follows:-(a) Mythological Giants These would mainly be Giants remembered from their encounters with gods and would include such beings as the gods of Greek and Norse mythology. These are often on an equal footing with the gods and will sometimes intermarry with them. They should not be regarded as likely to preserve any reminiscence of real gigantic humanoids.(b) Etiological Giants These are Giants believed to have been transformed into geological features. Mount Atlas, turned to stone by the Gorgon's head would be an example. Once again, these cannot be used as reasonable evidence for the existence of large humanoids.(c) Ordinary Giants These would simply be taller than the people recording their existence. A small person of Mediterranean origin encountering a person of Norse origin might describe him as a Giant.(d) Category Four These are Giants preserved in oral lore. These could mean that the groups in whose lore they feature might well have encountered large unknown humanoids/anthropoids in days agone and may even still be encountering them.

A movie with seasonal context and interplanetary content may be hard to find, but we have managed to dig one up. It's called Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, but I cannot vouch for its standard, as I have never had the privilege of seeing it. However, follow the link and you will find details of it.

1981: Four boys walking their dogs on England's Hackney
Marshes find a trail of large three-clawed footprints and sight "a giant
great growling bear-like creature." Police search the 5,000-acre marsh,
finding no beast but tracking several sets of footprints that end abruptly.

2007: A 29-year-old motorist crashes his car into a light
pole in Wenatchee, Washington, afterward blaming the accident on a
"pterodactyl." A police breathalyzer test reveals minimal traces of
alcohol in the driver's system He receives a citation for reckless driving.

Friday, 26 December 2014

Today, 26th December, is the feast of St Stephen, the first recorded martyr of the Christian Church. It is a public holiday in Ireland and Catalunya. People often remember it, however, as the setting of the carol Good King Wenceslaus.The Wenceslaus is question was the Duke of Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. In the Czech language his name was Vaclav. He lived in the 10th Century and was murdered. The Christmas carol does not contain historical material. It was published in 1853. It may have been based on an original poem by V.A. Svoboda. When it appeared in English, critics said it would not last long.There is a tradition that knights are sleeping under Mount Blanik in the Czech Republic. It is said they will awaken and defend the Czechs when the need arises. In Wenceslaus Square, Prague, there is a statue of Wenceslaus and it is said this will come to life and lead the Czechs.

Thursday, 25 December 2014

1945: Coal miners trapped by an underground explosion near
Fourmile, Kentucky, report seeing a "door" open in one wall of the
shaft, emitting bright light and a man dressed as a "lumberjack." He
tells the miners they'll be rescued safely, then goes back inside the
"room" and shuts the door.

1947: Three girls report a sighting of the Virgin Mary at
Pleskop, near Vannes, France.

1909: Sisters Eve, Gladys and Gwen Ruffle wake in the
bedroom of their home, in Fernhurst, West Sussex, drawn to a light in the night
sky outside. From their window, they behold "two golden doves" flying
close together, an "angel" appearing when their wingtips touch. After
several moments, the angel disappears and the doves fade more slowly.

1965: An unnamed man wakes in his home at Oroville,
California, to the sound of a "bouncing ball" in his bedroom. Sitting
up, he sees a short, elf-like figure standing at the foot of his bed, grinning
from ear to ear. Before diving under his covers, the witness notices the
creature's "odd and rough" appearance, but misses its departure while
hiding.

Tuesday, 23 December 2014

It has long been thought that Santa Claus had his origin in the person of the obscure Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, who delivered gifts or punishments (according to their behavior during the year) to Dutch children on his feast day, December 6th. The Dutch, it is felt, brought this practice to America.However, it is not quite so simple. The Pennsylvania Germans had a character named Pelznichol with a black face, wearing old clothes or skins, carrying a whip for bad children and comestibles for good ones, who was the Christmas gift giver.He may in origin have been the European wildman. Somewhere along the line, he probably merged with Saint Nicholas. He was, however, rather frightening. His face is described as 'hideous'.In 1821 a publication called The Children's Friend calls him Santeclas, but this is not the first time this name appeared. In 1822 the famous poem Visit of Saint Nicholas also called The Night Before Christmas appeared and that more or less presented a complete picture of Santa Claus with his flying reindeer. This portrait was augmented by a picture by Thomas Nast published in 1863.

In Continental Europe the gift giver was often called the Christkindl (Christ Child) depicted often by a teenage girl as a sort of angel rather thatn Jesus Himself. This led to the name Kriss Kringle being sometimes applied to Santa Claus in the United States.In England a personification of Christmas called Father Christmas appeared in the 16th Century. He was a character in Ben Jonson's Christmas Masque (1616). Persons have seen the Norse god Odin as his prototype, but there is very little evidence that Odin had remained in the English folk consciousness since the times when the Norsemen ruled the kingdom of York.The two characters were to amalgamate. Now their names are used interchangeably in Britain. The term Santa Claus reached England in the 1870s.Santa Claus acquired a red bobble hat in 1931 when Swedish artist Haddon Sundblom drew him wearing one for a Coca-Cola advertising campaign.

A couple of birds mentioned in Christmas carols are fairly obscure. They question of what they are shall now be addressed. Sit up and pay attention.In The Twelve Days of Christmas obscure avians called "colley birds" are mentioned. This name is so obscure that it has been sometimes changed into "calling birds". In fact, the colley bird, which is first mentioned in a version of the carol written down in 1780, is the European blackbird, also known as the merle or ouzel. It is an English dialect name.Less easy to explain is the carnal in the carol The Carnal and the Crane. None can say with certainty what this is, although according to guesswork it is a crow. Is it even a bird, though?At least we all know what a crane is.

Monday, 22 December 2014

The Reindeer or Caribou was the last animal to be domesticated and this is thought to have taken place 3000-7000 years ago. However, we cannot be really certain of this. We are dealing with times before recorded history.The Naskapi Indians of Canada believed the Reindeer had a sort of headquarters called Caribou House, surrounded by cast-off antlers. The Caribou House was the residence of a being called the Caribou Master, a human who had married a doe and been transformed

into a caribou.The names usually given to Santa's reindeer come from a poem The Night Before Christmas (1823). Though often ascribed to Clement C. Moore, some doubt remains about the authorship. In this the deer are called Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Cupid, Comet, Donner and Blitzen.The character of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was invented by Robert L. May (1901-76). The song was released by Gene Autry in 1949.